Well, I am back in Canada after a somewhat protracted trip home due to an aircraft failure at Heathrow.This meant a night in a hotel in Chicago and not arriving back on Gabriola Island until 6.00 pm on Monday, having left for Heathrow Airport at 9.00am on Sunday. The joys of international travel!

2011 has been a big year for me, moving temporarily to London, and being involved with the biggest sporting event on earth, the 2012 Olympc Games. By the time I head back in January it will be Olympic year and the pressure will really start to ramp up. The test events have shown us that we are well on track to delivering an amazing games and I hope to see some of the best Olympic photos ever produced. As soon as I get back the test event will start again, with the next being the Gymnastics, one of the biggest and most popular Olympic sports, and I will continue to bring you information on how I shoot these sports. Please don’t hesitate to pose any questions you might have on sports photography and I will do my best to answer you.

The final test events of the 2011 year were the wrestling and the weightlifting, which again took place at the ExCel Centre.

Wrestling is one of the oldest Olympic disciplines, having been contested at every modern Games since the first in 1896, and is as far removed from the modern TV version as chalk and cheese. In Greco-Roman style there is no holding below the waist, being the major difference with the other form of Olympic wrestling, freestyle.

Using the experience of having shot in the same halls last week I decided to take a lesson from the work I had to do on those images. I realized that the lighting in the ExCel Centre is exacatly 5,000 degres K, and for some reason my D3s were having some trouble with the white balance set to Auto. There are few occasions when I take my white balance from the auto setting but this proved to be the exception and with manually setting my balance to 5,000K I had perfect white balance on every shot. Don’t forget the golden rule – if you set your camera to any type of manual setting such as this then set it back to the normal setting immediately you have finished the shoot.

Rami HIETANIEMI (FIN) in red v alo TOOM (EST) in blue, 96kg class, Greco Roman Wrestling

Nikon D3s, 80 – 200 f2.8 lens set to 145mm, 1/800th @ f2.8 1600 ISO, exposure set manually, white balance set to 5000k manually

You have probably noticed that almost all the sports I shoot indoors are with the camera set to fully manual exposure. This is because at indoor arenas there are so many conflicting areas of light and shade that, even with the most sophisticated cameras available today, they are still easily fooled into giving incorrect exposure. It is essential that you know how to read a histogram, probably the most important tool in the digital photographers arsenal. All of my indoor shots are set up by taking a few test images checking the histogram, and then tweaking the exposure manually.

At the same time as the wrestling was taking place in one hall, the weightlifting was going on in another. As the lighting in both halls was identical I only needed a quick histogram check on my first images and then continued to shoot away. There are two disciplines in Olympic weightlifting, the snatch and the clean and jerk, with the combined total deciding the winner

You need to shoot the two types of lift a little differently. For the snatch, where a single movement makes a good lift it is all about facial expressions and so a head on spot usually provides the best images. My problem in the weightlifting hall was that my 200 – 400 f4 lens, that would have been ideal for this, was in the Nikon repair facility with the manual focussing ring completely jammed. This meant that I had no lens between 200mm and 500mm. Well, these thing happen, so I decided to use the situation to my advantage and get in really tight on some faces during the snatch with the 500mm.

Dmityiy KAPLIN (KAZ) in the snatch

Nikon D3s, 500mm f4 lens , 1/500th @ f4 1600 ISO, exposure set manually, white balance set to 5000k manually

In fact you don’t need to see the whole of the barbell to indicate what the sport is all about, the faces say it all.

For the clean and jerk I moved to a side-on view, but decided I would still give the 500mm a go. I think the image below works just as well from this angle.

Mart SEIM (EST) in the clean and jerk,

Nikon D3s, 500mm f4 lens , 1/500th @ f4 1600 ISO, exposure set manually, white balance set to 5000k manually

The image below shows the more classic view of the clean and jerk.

Ferenc GYURKOVICS (HUN) in the clean and jerk

Nikon D3s, AFs zoom 80 – 200 f2.8 lens set to 135mm, 1/640th @ f4 1600 ISO, exposure set manually, white balance set to 5000k manually

A great Christmas to all and I look forward to bringing you a lot more sports images in 2012

The next of the Olympic Test Event series is now well underway. The past week has seen the boxing, fencing and table-tennis events running in London’s Excel Centre, their home next year when the Games start.

The Table Tennis test was performed us part of the ITTF Table Tennis Tour and saw most of the world’s leading players, and of course the main contenders for next years medal. The Chinese continue to dominate the world table-tennis scene and an amazing men’s semi finals between the world’s # 1 and 2 proved to me that the table tennis I play is nothing like the game played at the highest level!

Unfortunately the lighting was not the same as that to be used during the Olympics and left a little to be desired. I found myself shooting at between 3200 and 6400 ISO to get anything close to the shutter speed required to freeze the action.

Nikon D3s, 80-200 f2.8 AF-S Zoom Nikkor at 145mm, 1/1000th @ f2.8, ISO 5000, exposure set manually after shooting test images and checking histogram. The high resolution output files all ran through Nose Ninja to help reduce the digital noise

The fencing provided some wonderful creative opportunities, especially during the finals on the main piste. The whole arena has ‘theatre style’ lighting meaning that the playing area is brightly lit while the surroundings are in almost complete darkness. I started by shoting some regular sports photos of the fencers in action.

Nikon D3, 80-200 f2.8 AF-S Zoom Nikkor at 165mm, 1/1000th @ f3.5, ISO 2000, exposure set manually after shooting test images and checking histogram.

Looking for something different I set my D3 to multiple exposure mode capturing 4 consecutive images on the same fram. Having the theatrical lighting really adds to this affect. The main trick is to ensure you keep the camera as still as possible during the exposure and resist the temptation to move the lens to try and keep the subject centred. Just hold the button down and let the action do the moving. Ideally one would use a tripod but that’s nearly impossible when shooting sport from crowded photo ares. As the shot below demonstrates it is possible to handhold this type of photo but you do need a fast shutter speed.

Marcel MARCILLOUX (FRA) [v Husayn ROSOWSKY (GBR), men's foil competition

Nikon D3, 80-200 f2.8 AF-S Zoom Nikkor at 86mm, 1/1000th @ f3.5, ISO 2000, multiple exposure turned on and set to 4 frames. Exposure set manually after shooting test images and checking histogram.

Finally I headed down to the Boxing Hall. This was not taking place in the hall that will be used at Games time so was really more of a test for the technical and sports people than for our photo positions.

Boxing is not one of my favourite sports to photograph, in fact it’s not one of my favourite sports period. In fact I find it’s actually a difficult sport to create great images especially amateur boxing.

Con SHEAHAN (IRL) v Lazaridis EUGENIOS (GRE)

Nikon D3s, 200-400 f4 AF-S Zoom Nikkor at 380mm, 1/800th @ f4, ISO 2500. Exposure set manually after shooting test images and checking histogram.

You may have noticed that in all the above images I chose to use manual exposure. This is because the lighting in each of these sports presented particular challenges, especially as the backgrounds were lit considerably differently to the field of play. This can easily cause erroneous exposures, (especially at the fencing with that black background). However the lighting on the filed of play was completely consistent so, after shooting a few test exposures and checking the histogram, I was able to hit the exposure dead on.

]]> http://www.split-seconds.com/pages/more-olympic-test-events/feed/ 0 http://www.split-seconds.com/pages/namibia-part-6/ http://www.split-seconds.com/pages/namibia-part-6/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 01:49:47 +0000 MikeB http://www.split-seconds.com/pages/?p=2044

From Etosha we jumped into our SafariWise van and trundled south to Okonjima, a 20,000 hectare animal resevere and home of the AfriCat Foundation.  Nestled among the Omboroko Mountains, Okonjima is a Herero word meaning “Place of the Baboons.”  Strangely enough, while we saw and photographed many animals, we didn’t see a single baboon.  Never-the-less, Okonjima is a place every visitor to Namibia should visit. First, but not foremost, it boasts excellent lodge facilities with modern, spacious rooms.  More importantly, Okonjima offers cheetah and leopard tracking game drives where they can virtually guarantee seeing these fabulous animals up close and personal.

Leopard at Okonjima, Namibia.

How close, you might ask?  Close enough that you don’t need a 500mm lens to get some great shots.  Our guide tracked one leopard to a dry riverbed and we quickly spotted the animal through a thicket of trees.  With some nifty navigating, we maneuvered ahead of the cat and he eventually passed within 10 meters of our open vehicle — and paid us not the slightest attention.  Later we (okay, our guide)  anticipated that the leopard was heading for a waterhole, so we 4-wheeled over there in time to see him spook a herd of giraffe (all except one large male which stood its ground and made sure the leopard slinked passed it, tail in a submissive position).  We captured some great images of the cat at the waterhole and later relaxing on top of a small hide.

Okonjima’s main claim to fame is that it looks after and rehabilitates wayward cats through its AfriCat Foundation.  Cats (especially leopards, cheetah and caracal) that are injured, trapped by farmers or abandoned by their families are brought to Okonjima.  In some cases they are very young animals which have not been taught how to hunt or who their enemies are.  The AfriCat foundation provides veterinary care (as needed) then helps the animals learn their roles in life.  As the cats demonstrate their capabilities, they are moved into larger pens until they are eventually released into a 16,000 hectare area where they can hunt and defend themselves.  If they prove capable in this area they are then released into the wild.  Over the past 17 years, AfriCat has treated and released over 1000 cats!

One great component of Okonjima is their educational program.  We spent one morning being introduced to several resident cheetah and caracal (for various reasons these animals are not capable of being released) and then given a tour of the veterinary and school facilities.  Our guide was very knowledgable about all things feline.  We finished our visit with some great evening shots of giraffe, zebra, steenbok and warthogs.  Sadly, our next stop is the airport.

If you’re interested in learning more about our Namibia Photo Safaries, please don’t hesitate to contact me at (250) 889-6700, North American toll free at (800) 667-0007, or via email: mike@split-seconds.com

Cheers!

– Mike

Giraffe at Okonjima, Namibia.

Four posts done and I’ve yet to mention the incredible services of our primary guide, Neil MacLeod of SafariWise (based in Swakopmund).  Neil is a great driver, has a thorough knowledge of Namibia and its wildlife, and has an amazing ability to spot wildlife and identify birds — even at a distance and at highway speeds!  In my books, his record was spotting a 6-inch rock agama sunning itself on a tree stump, all while safely negotiating a typical Namibia gravel road at 80 km/hr.

Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris) in Etosha National Park, Namibia.

On our way into Etosha National Park Neil spotted a Kite perched on a treetop.  The kite is a magnificent bird and we watched and photographed it for several minutes as it scanned the grasslands for lunch.

Etosha is one of the gems of all African National Parks.  It covers approximately 23,000 square kilometres and is home to over 100 different types of mammals and hundreds of different bird species.  With it’s well-spaced waterholes (over 50 of them) it’s a photographer’s paradise.

In one three-hour loop through a section of the park we saw and photographed elephants, giraffe, springbok (they’re everywhere) oryx, kudu, jackals, zebra and four different species of cat: lion, cheetah, caracal and African wildcat.

Etosha is also well-stocked with accommodation: everything from campsites to luxury suites.  And all of them are offered at comparatively good Namibian rates.  If you’re planning on coming to Etosha, reserve early as these units are often booked a year in advance.

Etosha certainly didn’t disappoint!  The weather (mostly overcast) unfortunately made for less than terrific photographs.  Now on to Okonjima and its AfriCat Foundation…

– Mike

African Lion at Etosha National Park, Namibia.

From Swakopmund we drove about 400 km to a beautiful little place called Camp Kipwe, in the heart of Damaraland.  The camp is located amongst a jumble of rocks jutting above a dry savannah.  This is by far my favourite accommodation so far, elegantly designed and constructed to blend with its environment.  Have I mentioned anything about the accommodation in Namibia?  It’s amazing!  Every place we have stayed is elegant, modern, with diligent attention to small details.  There are no mouldy, stuffy, boring rooms on this tour!

Desert-adapted elephants in Damaraland, Namibia.

From Camp Kipwe we jumped back in our truck to search for the desert-adapted elephants for which Namibia is famous.  After only an hour or so, we crossed tracks with a herd of about 22 elephants and soon found them moving down a dry riverbed towards a watering hole.  We spent two magical hours photographing these majestic animals as they shuffled along the sandy path.

Back at Camp Kipwe, I spent the remaining hours of light photographing a host of birds, including rosy-faced lovebirds, southern masked weavers, several types of doves, and more.

Our next destination is Namibia’s massive Etosha National Park.

– Mike

Swakopmund is an amazing little German town of about 30,000 people.  It’s perched right on the Atlantic coast and the desert dunes sweep down from the east right onto the edge of town.  It’s a unique place because of the perpetual fog banks which form just off the coast and often blanket the town in the early mornings.  The fog provides a steady source of water which in turn feeds the plant and animal life in the desert.

Snake eyes in the desert dunes near Swakopmund, Namibia.

We spent much of our first day in Swakopmund exploring the desert with a well-informed guide.  He transformed a seemingly barren dunescape into a city of life.  He pointed out minuscule tracks and holes in the sides of the dunes and explained which creatures made those marks.  Then, lightning quick, he’d plunge his hand into the sand and pull out a skink, or a spider or a gecko.  He found us a snake that was so well hidden you couldn’t possibly see it, even when he pointed out its exact location.  Only its eyes were visible!  Can you spot the snake in the photo at left?  I’ve enlarged it to give you a fighting chance…

Our second day was spent on the waters of Walvis Bay, about a half hour south of Swakopmund.  We were joined by a flock of pelicans that few in formation around us.  It really had to be seen to be believed.  We cruised around a colony of cape seals and photographed dolphins leaping clear of the water.  Our boat-based guide was entertaining, informative, and made liberal use of his well-stocked bar.

From here we motor north in search of desert elephants in Damaraland and Etosha National Park.

– Mike

Benguela Dolphin in Walvis Bay, Namiia.

We’re now cruising to Namibia’s coastline, having spent two days in the Namib desert, most of it in the famous area know as Sossusvelei.  The drive from Windhoek to Sossusvlei took us up to 2200 meters at Spreedshoogte Pass (I may have the spelling wrong and I can’t begin to pronounce it), before dropping down into the desert and across some very hot and tortured land.

Evening at Sossusvlei

We spent the night at Sossusvlei Lodge then woke up early to try to catch sunrise over the famous Sossusvlei sand dunes.  Sadly, the weather didn’t cooperate and the morning was overcast, meaning we missed the best light.  None-the-less we had a few moments of bright sunshine which produced some nice images.  The dead acacia trees in Dead Vlei were particularly interesting.

After a modestly disappointing day in the dunes (photographically speaking) we returned in the evening to find some wonderful light.  Two ladies from the Neatherlands asked us to take their picture on one of the dunes and they leapt for joy in finding someone who would oblige in this very empty part of the world (photo at left).

Since leaving the Windhoek area we haven’t seen vast amounts of wildlife — mostly springbok and 0ryx –but we did see three klip springer, a sand snake, agama lizards and many birds, including ostrich, goshawks, kestrels, rosy-cheeked love birds,  several different types of weavers, and more.

From Sossusvlei we will now head to Swakopomund for two days of play on the water and in the desert.  More updates to follow (if possible).

– Mike

Greetings from Namibia! We’re three days into our 12 day tour and so far the experience has been fantastic! We landed in Windhoek (Namibia’s capital) Monday morning following a 10-hour overnight flight from Frankfurt, Germany and transferred quickly to a place about 30 km out of Windhoek called Dusternbrook Guest Farm.

Leopard at Dusternbrook Guest Farm, Namibia.

Dusternbrook Guest Farm, the first and oldest guest farm in Namibia, encompasses over 10,000 hectares dedicated to Namibian wildlife, especially leopard, cheetah, oryx, and giraffe. We settled in comfortably and snagged a midday siesta, then headed out in an open jeep to see the farm’s star attractions: leopards and cheetah (one British study indicates a population of 18 leopards on the farm).

The viewing was spectacular and the photo to the left was just one of hundreds.

We drove for three hours up and down the farm’s rocky terrain sighting many of the area’s free range animals. We photographed wildebeest, kudu, eland, giraffe, oryx, baboon, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, mountain zebra, mongoose, warthogs and a host of colourful birds.

Our second day at Dusternbrook was similar — out photographing birds in the morning, followed by an excellent breakfast, a lazy midday, then a second game drive.

From Dusternbrook we will spend a day exploring Windhoek, then move down to Sossusvlei, home to Namibia’s famous sand dunes. Internet access permitting, we will post additional updates.

– Mike

Byron Crossley accepts the iPad2 as overall 2011 Photo Scavenger Hunt winner.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in our 2011 Photo Scavenger Hunt!

There were many amazing photographs submitted in every category and the most popular photograph of all was of an ant on a thumbnail.  If I have the story right, the ant was removed from its wayward path across a restaurant table (presumably hoping to share a fine lunch) and suddenly became the subject for photo challenge #2.  The ant was a star performer and hunt participant Byron Crossley captured it perfectly.  His photograph earned more votes (32) than any other photo in any category, easily topping the second most popular photo  (23 votes), which was Matt Ferguson’s self-portrait (sleeping on a bench with the Robbie Burns statue in the distance behind him).  Byron also won photo challenge #8 (slow shutter speed of falling water) which made him the clear overall winner of the Apple iPad 2.

For most of the challenges the competition was very close, with many of them won by just one vote.  Photo challenge 3 (the silhouette) was a four-way tie right up to the last vote.  The challenge was won by participant PSH035 but honourable mentions must be sent to participants PSH156, PSH117 and PSH124.

One last note, several people have asked for electronic copies of my presentation notes.  I hope to make these available by next week.

Cheers!

–Mike

The last week has seen me at Lords Cricket Ground in St Johns Wood, London, home of the Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) and the founders of the rules of cricket. Back in the late 1980s I spent many a day photographing both county and international test match cricket from here.

The MCC was founded in 1787 and moved to the current ground in 1814 and since that time no other sport is reported as having taken place on the hallowed turf at Lords. So it was a historic moment last Monday when the first arrows were fired across the training ground at The Nursery End for the ranking rounds of the London Archery Classic. The following day the event moved from The Nursery to Lords Ground proper to open the team competitions followed by the individual championships will culminate in the final rounds, ladies today and mens tomorrow.

Xiaoxiang DAI (CHN)

Nikon D3s, AF-S Zoom Nikkor 200-400 f4 at 360mm on Gitzo Carbon Fibre Monopod
1/1250th @ f4, ISO 1000

Long gone are the days of Robin Hood with a yew wood bow, todays bows are high technology affairs costing many thousands of dollars.

This is a sport currently dominated by Korea, who are proving almost unbeatable. Photographically it’s a sort which, in all honesty , provides little in the way of photographic opportunities. For obvious reasons there are limited places where you can be, and few places where you can place a remote camera, so I found after a short time I had virtually run out of ideas.

Gyeonghee HAN (KOR)

Nikon D3s, AF-S Zoom Nikkor 200-400 f4 at 240mm on Gitzo Carbon Fibre Monopod
1/640th @ f5.6, ISO 500

However, as with all sport, it is what it is, so I made sure I had images taken from all the locations we will be be using at next years Games.

Takaharu FURUKAWA (JPN)

Nikon D3s, AF-S Zoom Nikkor 200-400 f4 at 400mm on Gitzo Carbon Fibre Monopod
1/400th @ f5.6, ISO 500 This image is taken from the photo ‘hide’ almost directly in
front of the competitors.

One of the most difficult things is to get an arrow actually in flight as it leaves the bow. The initial speed of the arrow is around 150-160 mph (240 – 260 Kmh). The problem is that the archer raws the bow and there is then an indeterminate amount of time before he or she releases,. If you wait until you see the release then you are too late and therefore the only way to achieve the arrow leaving the bow is to start shooting on continuous just before you think the archer will release – and even then you will miss the arrow 99% of the time. This is a photo where luck plays a huge part. In around 250 images taken to try and get the arrow leaving the bow I achieved the shot just twice! Good job we are not still shooting with film.

Aki VIRTANEN (FIN)

Nikon D3s, AF-S Zoom Nikkor 200-400 f4 at 400mm on Gitzo Carbon Fibre Monopod
1/640th @ f5.6, ISO 1000 (Could have done with a little faster shutter speed)